by L E Gordon
“Can you remember what day you saw it?”
“I had Friday off so it must have been then. I had come down to fish for a few hours in the afternoon then went out for dinner with Julie,” he replied.
“Thanks, that makes sense. Hey, do you still have that crystal I gave you? Keep it in your pocket. There’s something weird going on. In fact, stay away from the water for a few days, will you? It could be nothing, but until we know for sure, I’d rather you were safe.”
He looked at me, trying to decide if I was pulling his leg, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a hematite stone. “Never leave the house without it. If you say there’s something going on I’ll take your word for it, just let me know when it’s good to come back down here. Julie will go nuts if I’m under her feet on my days off!”
“I will, hopefully we’ll sort it out in a few days. I’ll give you a call when it’s safe to come back. Oh, I have winter tea made up, call in and get some next time you are going past the shop.”
With that Dougie packed up his fishing gear and walked back to his car to put it in the boot. “I’ll do that, see you soon. Stay safe, whatever you crazy women are up to.”
Chapter thirteen
At 4 o’clock we headed up to Flora’s to prepare for the coven meeting. Flora was in the tower already. Cait pulled in at the same time as I did and we walked up to the tower together in comfortable silence. Kenna arrived just after us and we got down to business.
Cait began the discussion with what her contact had told her. “As you know, I spoke to my contact in the Fae. I don’t have specifics but there is something happening in one of the courts. I mean, there is always something happening in Fairy, but this is bigger than usual. I was recommended to keep the Baobhan Sith on a tight leash through a treaty so we had them as allies if this situation requires it. So my vote will be to let them stay.”
I nodded, “Much as I want them gone, I vote stay as well. The goddess gave me vision or a dream last night. They will fight beside us if we need them to, and I think their loyalty will be valuable. As Cait said, our treaty with them has to be airtight. They’re good at working loopholes into agreements; that can’t be allowed.”
Flora and Kenna were in agreement and Kenna spoke first. “We have to guarantee they are not allowed to hunt on any of the lands we protect; humans and farm animals are off limits. They can hunt wild animals if they choose, but not to the point of it causing problems in our eco system. Preferably, they do their feeding elsewhere. I know that’s making their habits someone else’s problem, but they will hunt and feed wherever they are. Maybe this way it will limit them to the minimum feeding as they won’t venture away from the safety we provide for too long.”
Flora added her thoughts, “Kenna’s right, they can’t hunt here. It’s too close to home and threatens our safety and the safety of the coven. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a deal breaker. We should also think about what we want from them if we vote to let them stay. They gain our protection and a place to live, what will we get from them? They say we will be allies, but the circumstances we can call on them need to be made very clear. We should be specific about when we are willing to help them; if they get themselves into trouble we may not want to get involved.”
“On a different subject I’ve figured out who our mystery woman is. She’s an Undine,” I told them. “We can decide what to do once we deal with the immediate issue, but at least we know what we’re facing and can put a stop to her.”
We all agreed that we needed to deal with the vamps first and got ready to welcome the others for our coven meeting, setting out chairs and, putting on the urn for tea and coffee. The members of our coven began arriving before five o’clock, eager find out why a meeting had been called. We even had some of the Grannies turn up and the room in the tower soon filled up with all the coven.
Cait stood at the front and began to explain the situation, “As you know we’ve had some unusual activity in the area and at least two men we know of have been bitten by an unknown female, who we now believe is an Undine. On our search for this creature we have encountered a clan of Baobhan Sith. This clan is the reason for the meeting tonight.”
At the mention of the female vampires there was a great deal of muttering and some sharp intakes of breath as the witches showed their displeasure.
“Okay, ladies, let me finish!” Cait held up her hand to get attention and the women settled down again. “We met with them last night and they have asked for safe passage in our lands. I will give them an answer tonight. In the meantime I spoke with my contact in the Fae, as the vampires had mentioned a larger enemy. My contact confirmed there was disruption in the courts and recommended we have them as allies to boost our ranks, should the need for help arise. Tarn has also information to add to this recommendation.”
Cait sat and let me take over. “It’s well known I have no love for vampires, but I didn’t want my personal bias to be the basis of my vote on this issue. I asked the goddess for guidance and had a vision last night of a Baobhan Sith fighting beside me against an unseen foe. Much as I dislike the idea, my goddess has given me insight and I must trust that. If I can find it in myself to allow them to make our lands their home, I hope you can think this through rationally as well.”
I sat down in a rush, glad to have had that over with. Kenna stood to make the final point, “These creatures are scared. It was obvious last night they are living in fear and part of our jobs is to help human, witch, Fae or others. I believe we can put together a water tight treaty with this clan to keep us all safe and have their help if needed. We are coming from a place of strength here, it’s in our power to make it as we desire.”
Finally Flora stood up. “Ladies, if there anyone who wishes to make points of view known or has information about this situation, please stand and share with us all now.”
Again there was a buzz in the hall, the women talking to each other, speaking to friends about the thought of dangerous creatures on our lands and if having allies for an unknown threat that may not eventuate was worth the trouble. Eventually the hall went quiet and no one brought new information to the coven.
Flora spoke again, “As there is nothing else to present, please make your votes.”
The women walked past the two bowls and placed a stone in one, depending on their view point. When they had all voted we checked the bowls, it was a clear majority for stay. They might not be keen on having them here, but these women had been round the block a few times and were smart enough to know that Fae wouldn’t break an agreement; if they did it was instant banishment. As Kenna had said, we held all the cards and should use them to our advantage.
Cait stood at the front again. “You have voted and as a coven we’re in agreement that the Baobhan Sith can stay. We’ll write up our treaty and present it to them in a few days to ensure we have all the details as they need to be. We’re looking into the other issue, that of the Undine. Should we need the strength of the coven, we’ll let you know. Thank you for your time in this, sisters. Blessed Be.”
Some of the witches stayed for coffee and a chat with their friends, but most filtered out after saying their goodbyes and went home. We sat at a table and began to work through the binding agreement we would present to the vampires. This wasn’t something to rush over, as any mistake could be taken advantage of.
“I say we speak to the vampires tonight, let them know they are welcome to stay and that we will get the agreement to them by the weekend. That way we can get this right and get it checked over before it’s signed by us. Cait, do you think your contact would look over it, or is that taking advantage of the situation?” I asked, hoping we could get some help with it.
“I’ll see what I can do. It’s starting to get dark. How about we head over to the castle, tell them they can stay, and at least that is done?”
We waited until the last of the women left and finished tidying up the hall, then headed for Flora’s car to drive out to the castle again. Th
is time I wasn’t quite so apprehensive about facing the females.
The one track road leading to the ruin was bumpy and we pulled into the car park just as it went fully dark. Knowing we were safer this time didn’t make it any less daunting to leave the security of the car, but we still had our supplies from the night before so were all armed with iron and capable of looking after ourselves. Again we walked towards the circle that Cait and Flora had marked and released witch lights to help us see. The vamps had been waiting for us and at the sound of our crunching on the gravel, they began to appear from the darkness, the fluidity of their movements far from human.
“Welcome, witches, do you come bearing news for us?” Rula had stepped forward to speak for the clan again.
Cait stepped up again to speak for the coven. “We do, our coven have decided you can stay. There will be stipulations made of you if you chose to remain, which will be documented in an agreement. We’ll bring it to you once it’s drawn up.”
“We’re grateful for the hospitality of your lands. Our kind are seldom welcome. We appreciate what you have done for us and offer you an alliance if you need to call on our strength. We’ll remain in the castle grounds until the accord is signed.” Rula bowed her head to us, showing respect.
“I have something to ask you.” I ventured forward, keeping my nerves in check. “We spoke of a being attacking men in our town when we met last night. If you come across any creature who may be capable of doing this, will you inform us? We now believe it is an Undine, so if there’s any activity near the river, be sure to let us know.”
Rula looked as if she was inspecting me, then bowed her head again. “Any creature who draws the human’s attention is bad news. We’ll gladly provide any information we come across. We’ll take your leave now and wait for you to visit us again.”
“Until then,” Cait replied, turned her back on the women and walked to the car with us following behind.
The drive back to Flora’s was more relaxed than the night before, all of us happy that we had the vampire situation as under control as we could get it. The signing of the contract would finalise it, but their spoken agreement would hold them accountable until then.
In a weird déjà vu experience, we got back to Flora’s and again she shooed the kids out so we could have some quiet to talk amongst ourselves.
Cups of tea were made and biscuits placed on the kitchen table while we gathered our thoughts, all of us comfortable enough in each other’s company not needing to fill silence with constant chatter.
Cait took a sip of the hot fragrant tea and turned to me. “So, an Undine? That’s something I haven’t heard of for a long time. How sure are you that it’s our mystery woman?”
“About ninety percent sure. I scried at the harbour with Kenna this afternoon and it’s the only creature that fits the magical signature and the type of contact being made. It was raining on the nights that Joe and Scott had contact, so she would have no problem being out of the water. I’m also thinking it may have been the Undine that Bobby witnessed as well.”
“Why didn’t she stay with Joe or Scott? I though these elementals were pretty beguiling and lured men into marriage?” Asked Flora.
“I have a theory about that. Joe is smitten by our beautiful Kenna and can’t even remember what happened. I think the Undine realised that his heart belonged to another so left. Scott is a lifelong bachelor, very set in his ways, and you could say he is married to the sea. He has no desire for a wife so he wouldn’t make a good match either. As for Bobby, well, she didn’t get a chance to make contact, but I’m not sure that Bobby would be able to handle a relationship. He’s very innocent in some ways because of the accident. I think if she got close enough she would realise there was an immaturity there. Which means our water elemental is still on the look for a mate, and any single man is fair game for her.”
We sat back to contemplate the situation. She could latch on to any single man and we would be none the wiser. It had only been pure luck that Joe and Scott were the first victims, that we knew of anyway.
“So how do we trap her, Tarn? We can’t let her keep up with her man hunt, they’re deadly if the man falls for someone else, aren’t they?” Cait asked.
“I’m not sure what we do, but yes, if she gets married and her husband falls for someone else he will die. And I’m not going to let that happen in my town.”
Chapter fourteen
I could only handle so much drama at one go and I had reached today’s limit. The other Keepers felt the same and we called it a night, promising to check in the next day and figure out how to go about catching the Undine. Which wasn’t an easy feat to do with any elemental.
As soon as I got home I headed for the shower and washed the stress of the day off and put on a warm robe to keep the night chill off me. I tip toed into the kid’s rooms and kissed them goodnight before going through to the kitchen. Michael was taking mugs out of the cupboard and the kettle was coming to the boil. I picked my favourite night time blend to help settle me and made the tea for us.
“How are you after the vampires, love?” Michael asked as he took his mug from me.
“They’re on our side for now. Once we get them to sign the contract it will all be binding, but they gave their word so that’s technically enough. I actually spoke to the leader. It’s the first time I have spoken to a vampire in years, and I was pretty impressed at my control. I guess all that work I did years ago has helped me be around them.”
“The next thing we need to do is trap the water spirit. I figured out it’s an Undine, have you had anything to do with them?”
“I’ve came across them from time to time, but always kept a respectful distance. They are amazing creatures, powerful and beautiful,” he replied.
“Well, I need to find this one and get her to leave the men in the town alone. I can’t have her marrying someone and killing them if someone else takes their fancy. Human divorce is bad enough!” I tried to make light of the situation but I was quite overwhelmed.
He nodded, agreeing it would be a disaster. “That would be a difficult situation to explain. It’s time for my swim, love. Our pups had me running about all day. I need to stretch out and enjoy the water. I’ll keep my eyes open for the water spirit for you.”
“Thank you. I’m going to meditate for a while then go to bed. Enjoy the water, my Selkie man.” I kissed Michael and he turned to retrieve his seal skin from the hidden cupboard we made to keep it safe from outsiders. Michael had chosen to live with me out of love, but if someone else found his skin they could use it as blackmail to force him to live with them.
I lit a couple of candles in my spell room and took a seat on some cushions. The warm wax soon released the scent of the essential oils blended into them and I started to relax as I looked back on the day.
We had achieved a lot. Knowing it was an Undine that was causing the trouble was a step towards protecting the town, and getting the coven to agree to the vampires staying was huge. Now I had to plan how to trap the water elemental and make her leave the area in peace. I decided it was a problem for tomorrow and let my mind wander and the calming oils help me relax into a state of meditation.
I must have meditated my way to sleep as I woke up on my soft floor cushions with a light blanket over me. Michael had covered me up when he came back from his swim and let me sleep where I was. I smiled, got up, and removed my robe to do some yoga while the house was quiet. The stretching warmed my body up and let my mind focus on breathing and simply being instead of getting caught up in all the thoughts that had been rushing about recently.
Yoga practice done I got dressed and made breakfast for everyone, not wanting to research magic on an empty stomach. It was a day-care day and the kids left with Michael not long after breakfast; he would take care of the shop again this morning so I had time to research the water elemental.
Back in my spell room I pulled out a few books that had belonged to my Granny; she had passed them to me when I
became Keeper so I all the water witch resources were in one place. I hadn’t looked at them in a while, but remembered there was information on Undines in them, so I sat in the chair beside the window and started to work my way through the books, note pad on the table beside me to jot down ideas.
I worked in silence, only getting up for a cup of tea and by 12 o’clock I was beginning to get the outline of a plan together. I messaged the others to come to the house tonight to work thought the details together, then called Michael and told him I could do the next shift at the shop.
I made up a salad and was eating my half of it when he arrived home. “There’s food in the fridge for you, love, I’ll pick the kids up on my way home. I think I know how to get the Undine to leave the town alone, but the girls are coming over tonight to work it through. What do you have planned for the afternoon?”
“I think start on winter proofing the garden. Flora told me what I needed to do and I picked up all my supplies from the garden centre last time I was home,” he replied, smiling. When he wasn’t in the water he loved to work in the garden, something he discovered a passion for when he settled down with me.
“Getting the important stuff done while the kids are out, smart move.” I laughed, knowing the kids helping would mean more work for Michael. I picked up my stack of books and notes and gave him a kiss. “I’ll see you tonight, have fun in the garden.”
Turning the shop sign to open I went through the back and spread out my notes and the books on the table. I started to draft the spell we would use call the Undine, planning where Cait, Flora, and Kenna would stand during the calling, and drew out a diagram. We would need all our elemental powers for this to work.
